Soils of Mount Erebus, Antarctica

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Abstract
Soil distribution on Mt Erebus is restricted by the extensive ice and snow cover and by the rugged topography. Soil occurrence is limited to rock exposures, to areas kept free of ice by the hot vapours and heat of fumaroles, and to areas near the active crater. The soils of Mt Erebus are lithosols, and because of their acid reaction are unique among the soils of South Victoria Land, the Commonwealth Range, and the Bunger Oasis. Also, the mineral assemblage of these lithosols includes minerals not yet reported among the little-studied Antarctic soils. These outstanding characteristics are related to the hydrothermal processes associated with the volcanic activity of the region. A sample obtained near an active fumarole showed considerable microbiological activity and minerals such as allophane, gibbsite, illite, and feldspar. Allophane, an alteration product of volcanic ash, is forming at present in New Zealand and Japan. A sample from the summit was found to be sterile and to contain considerable quantities of sulphur and chlorides. The clay size fraction showed kaolinite, a mixed layer montmorillonite-illite, illite, and feldspar. The mineral suite of these soils may have been derived in place under the action of past and present surface hydrothermal processes; alternatively, it is possible that the minerals may have been synthesised at depth in the crater and later expelled.

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